29 April - 5 May: Medal Test! And other adventures :)

This week was a very full one!

It began with Slobs on Monday (in which among other things-- we got very distracted by the significance of the number seven). Christelle blurted out that it's important because of the seven colours of the rainbow and seven days of the week (We discovered that she was not in fact entirely wrong about that!)

On Tuesday, I grabbed a lift to ballroom with Liesje and tried to study for my maths exam while she danced the paso doble (I was far too distracted!) I truly cannot believe that she is now advanced enough to dance that! Looking back on videos of the first time I went to watch her dance, it is incredible how far she has come!

While I was waiting for Liesje across the hall, Emma from church came over to say hello. She called Liesje's name and waved, but of course Liesje could only see a blob. So she gave a very wrinkled-brow look and wave back shouting "Wie's jy?" Her confused/half-blind face is very adorable, but I do wish she would wear her glasses more! It becomes terribly awkward when she has to rely on me to tell her who she is meant to recognise when I can't remember their names to help prompt her! She tells me that she is interested in getting some contacts when she books her next eye test, but I think I will miss her glasses dreadfully!

Wednesday was a public holiday, so I arranged to have tea with Timothy. I baked muffins (and later flapjacks after he left). I had meant to use most of the day to study for my maths exam, but somehow procrastination kept taking over. Tim spilled tea all over himself by the way, it was rather entertaining although I did feel bad to laugh.

On Thursday, I taught a rather disastrous maths lesson at the school (or rather-- it was way too advanced for the children!) but had no time to dwell on it because I needed to cram some more for the exam. In typical Aggie style, the exam was incredibly practical and we had to bring along scissors, glue and a child-friendly recipe. I thought the exam was very fair, but my hands were so cramped from writing that they shook by the end of the paper!

To treat myself after what I discovered was my last ever maths exam, yay!-- I went and bought an iced milo. I also bought a pie because I didn't have food at home. I then walked to the church and caught Liesje as her Bible study was ending. I gave her a chocolate to help get her through her massive project, and she joked that I could sit next to her while she worked on it if I wanted to. And so I did! It was a wonderful time! She played some fantastic music and showed me her very beautiful assignment (complete with stunning farm pictures!) while I messed around with canva on my phone for the maths instagram page.

On Friday, I went to one last medal test practice where Marcel and I did some crash course work. Sarah and I then got McDonalds chips for supper and each sat doing our own thing while we munched on them.

And now we come to the part that I have long been waiting to write about: The medal test itself!

On the morning of the test, I was informed that they were running an hour or so ahead of schedule. This led to a panicked phone call with Liesje who popped across earlier than we had originally agreed to help with my hair. It was pouring down when she came and that was when we realised the second problem with our original plan— we wouldn't be able to walk there without my getting drenched.

While we had planned to do a trial run with my hair, we landed up only attenpting a bun on the day. This was a bit of a mistake. Liesje was at her wits end as to how to get it all to stay. She kept making the strangest faces and most disturbing doubtful noises. She was most relieved when she realised I wouldn't be dancing the jive (which is by far the most jumpy dance)! Her final comment on the bun was "Ek gaan nie vir jou jok nie, hy lyk nie mooi nie... maar hy gaan hou."

Sarah had been writing an engineering test, but she made it back in time for her, Liesje and I to grab an uber to Matkotter sports fields where the medal test was happening. Liesje had never been in an uber before! She struck up a very lively conversation with our driver, and asked him all about his funniest driving stories. He told us that he once had a group of drunk students who had stolen the salt shakers off the table at a restaurant and gave them to him to keep.

When we arrived, Marcel was waiting and the two of us had a quick practice sesion in the room adjoining the main sports room. We then watch the end of Gina and her boyfriend's dance— the poor boy couldn't stop shaking afterwards. Somewhere around then, Dana arrived and said in a panicked voice to Liesje and Bear, "Am I in time?" She had said she would try to come and watch and I was so glad that she made it!

Then— just like that it was my turn! Thankfully there weren't too many people left to watch. A had a rather odd sense of calm descend before the music actually began. We danced the waltz first, followed by the foxtrot. I found it a little difficult to follow the foxtrot. And we ended with chacha— Marcel calls chacha my "baby" because I dance it well and it's the one I consider most fun to dance so far. I had an absolute blast dancing it! It was over all too quickly, we took our final bow and when he walked me out, I didn't hold my arm as I should have— I was too relieved it was over.

There was a short break for sokkie (and Liesje took me for a quick spin). And then I was given my certificate, rubric and a packet of niknaks. I also had to pose for a picture, but since Marcel was dragging Sarah onyo the floor to teach her to sokkie, he hadn't seen that we were taking one. He caught on soon after Aunty Gladdys arranged a random guy to stand with me though and came rushing back saying "Hey! That's my partner!" Liesje grabbed my rubric straightaway and was thrilled to see that I had passed with distinction and that the comment read "Nice Chacha Keren".

Tao arrived just a little too late to see me dance, she was most disappointed. She was lucky to catch us at all really— we had decided to stay a little to watch some of the older and more advanced couples dance. Liesje then voted we go for ice cream— which we did despite the rain and cold! We walked to Kristen's and Dana threw some poppers she had found in her bag along the way. When it started to rain, we hastily stowed my certificate in Dana's bag and picked up our pace a bit. Liesje and I decided to try the "Kitchen sink brownie" flavour ice cream, and I had mine with a scoop of cookie dough too.

Sadly, we all had rather a lot of work to do (and little time before the sokkie at church) so we heded home as soon as we had finished the ice cream. When Liesje and Tao sent the photos though, I had to laugh at how broadly I was smiling in each one. I don't think I have ever looked so excited in pictures before!

The sokkie was wonderful— I didn't actually dance as much as I usually do. I had some good, meaningful conversations with Liesje outside, and chatted with Lane and Jemma too. Oh and Morgan showed up! She had been visiting with Luna which was a complete surprise to me, so it was so lovely when I saw her and she threw her arms around me in a tight squeeze. It was really the most spectacular day! When I got home though and took my shoes off, I discovered that some of the skin on my feet was peeling away! Clearly there is a price to dancing...

But my week doesn't stop there! On Sunday before church— Liesje had tried to organise an autunm photo shoot. It ended up being just her, Dana, Annalou and I, but we had a wonderful time! Dana had to leave early, but didn't want many photos taken of her, so she she resorted to taking some for us instead. She was rather hysterical with her side comments and bullying us about our choice of poses and my being short. Most of the photos we took just there in the street, but I suggested we go to the mulberry tree and take some pictures there too. That turned out to be a grand idea because we found a frangapani tree in flower there (although I did accidentally break a branch when trying to pick a flower!)

After the photos, Liesje, Annalou and I went and got cream doughnuts at Moody Blues and sat outside with them while playing Durack. It was really rather a perfect end to the week and so very magical!

Liesje came home with me after church and we had a good heart-to-heart conversation too. She is a great blessing and I am glad to have some in my life with whom I can mutually share joys and sorrows with.